OUR VIEW: It's time for people to take back government

Sunday

Nov 29, 2015 at 3:45 AM

A report out of Albany last week should frighten you. Essentially, it said that state government is in shambles — two of its most powerful leaders are currently on trial facing corruption charges, voting has hit an all-time low and nobody seems to care.

OBSERVER-DISPATCH

A report out of Albany last week should frighten you. Essentially, it said that state government is in shambles — two of its most powerful leaders are currently on trial facing corruption charges, voting has hit an all-time low and nobody seems to care.

Abraham Lincoln would be disappointed. This is not government of the people, by the people or for the people.

We need a revolution — but not like the last one. Our weapons in today’s war must be ballots, not bullets. And awareness is our principal ally.

As it is, that’s losing ground to apathy. For instance, many are oblivious to the trials taking place of ex-Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat who led the state Assembly for 20 years, and former state Senate Leader Dean Skelos, a Long Island Republican. Silver is accused of taking more than $4 million in bribes and kickbacks. A jury began deliberating that case last week and will resume Monday. Skelos is charged with extorting jobs and payments for his son. Both have denied wrongdoing.

Skelos is the fifth consecutive Senate leader to face corruption charges. What’s more, since 2000, more than 30 state lawmakers have left office facing criminal charges or allegations of ethical misconduct.

Ho-hum.

The Gotham Gazette, an online publication that covers New York policy and politics, reported last year that voter turnout in New York state is in a freefall. In 1974, 75.4 percent of registered voters went to the polls to vote for governor, according to the state Board of Elections. That number has dropped steadily since. In 2014, it was 31.49 percent. Voter registration, meanwhile, has outstripped turnout, the Gazette reports, with the number of registered voters rising from 7.4 million in 1974 to 11.8 million in 2014. But the number of voters who turn out on Election Day has gone from 5.5 million to 3.7 million during the same time period.

That’s pathetic. Public apathy has turned government over to a select few who essentially do precisely as they please.

“No one cares. No one votes. Everyone thinks everyone in government stinks,” Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky, a Long Island Democrat and former corruption prosecutor, told the Associated Press. “We are living the worst-case scenario.”

Part of the solution is something good government groups have been championing for years — ethics reform. But powers-that-be in Albany won’t hear of it. Lawmakers were urged to convene a special session this fall dedicated to overhauling ethics rules, but it was roundly dismissed, according to the Associated Press. Silver’s successor, Bronx Democrat Carl Heastie, suggested there was little lawmakers could do to clean up their own act.

Not true. Earlier this month, the Center for Public Integrity gave New York a D-minus in a recent ranking of states and corruption. As a result, earlier this month five watchdog groups — Citizens Union, Common Cause, the New York State League of Women Voters, the New York Public Interest Research Group and Reinvent Albany — called on the state Legislature and governor to complete the job of reforming laws governing public ethics.

Among the suggestions:

-- Reform legislative compensation through considering the forthcoming recommendations of the recently appointed New York State Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation, to address issues of salary, lulus, and outside income.

-- Limit the influence of dark money campaign contributions and end government spending that takes place in the shadows by closing the LLC loophole, requiring campaign contributors to disclose their employers, requiring disclosures of all lump-sum appropriation funds, and enacting much stronger restrictions on personal use of campaign funds.

-- Reform ethics oversight and enforcement by changing the Joint Commission on Public Ethics structure, scope, and voting procedures to boost public confidence in its actions. Changes should increase transparency of its operations, meetings and votes; expand jurisdiction to include all executive and legislative branch employees; and elevate the independence of the commissioners from their appointing authorities.

-- Strengthen financial reporting disclosure requirements for public officers to allow the public to more easily spot conflicts of interest.

-- Streamline and standardize disclosure of lobbying activity for better analysis and easier evaluation by the public.

And your role in all this?

Find out where your representatives stand on ethics reform. And vote. Until the public becomes engaged and returns to the ballot box, government will be out of our control.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.